I finished and sent off all the things I made for my partner in our World of Warcraft Swap. I sent off late Wednesday afternoon and MUCH to our surprise it arrived in Sweden on Monday morning! Holy crow, that's fast!

After seeing some of the other packages in the swap gallery, I was starting to feel VERY anxious that I didn't make enough stuff, but my partner insist her fiancee is happy with everything so hopefully she's not just being nice ;)

Anyway, now that she's received I can post what I made here!

First, I painted one of those cardboard book boxes. I tried my best to make it look like a rugged leather book - something that you might actually find in the halls of Orgrimmar. The idea was to make it Thrall's [the leader of the Orcs in Orgrimmar] little secret box.

In fan lore, it's believed he is "very close" with a Human leader named Jaina Proudmoore, so I stuffed the book with goodies from Disney and made it seem like they were sent to Thrall from Jaina on her trip to Walt Disney World.

I even made her send him a postcard.

[my cursive is TERRIBLE]

Everything I made and sent I attached a label to, like the one you would see on any item in the game, so for Thrall's Journal, I attached this:

Next I made a leather cuff. First, I painted the Horde logo on it [which, despite it's deceiptfully simple appearance, is a real BITCH to duplicate free-hand]. I worked really hard on shading it and everything to make it look more three-dimensional, but I couldn't really capture that in a photo. I also added black swirly bits all over and red splatters. Add some grommets, some leather to lace it up, and wah-la! Bracers of Pwnage!

Finally, a t-shirt. I painted the yellow exclamation mark on the front of it. It's what you'd find in the game above a source that would give you a quest. On the back, right under the collar I painted another Horde logo. The tag includes a warning that whilst wearing the shirt, you are entitled to give orders, however those that complete said orders may expect a reward!

I threw in Minnie Mouse from Animal Kingdom for Ann, since everything I made was for her fiance, and of course everything was wrapped up in Disney bags lol.

I really do hope they honestly liked everything and don't feel like they got jipped! I mean, I was sick the entire time and hopping in and out of various health places so the fact that I got anything done really astounds me, but that's no excuse. I can't help feeling crappy...

Ok, ok, ok. I'll stop procrastinating and blog a little about the bag and show you how it turned out. But, because I'm a.) lazy, b.) troubled, c.) busy, and most of all d.) anxious to start gorging on the Girl Scout Cookies in the kitchen, I'm just pasting in what I wrote about it on Craftster.org. I added a little on the end... 'cause... well I was just trying to be cool and polite, so I didn't include much ranting. Fortunately, this is MY blog, so I can rant here! MWUAHAHAHAHA!

"A good friend of mine, and follower of the Church of the SubGenius practically BEGGED me once he found out I had a pattern for their icon, J.R. "Bob" Dobbs. He didn't care what, he just wanted something! I wasn't prepared to devote myself to making an entire sweater, so I just made a bag... a huge, oddly oblong bag.

It was the first time I had tried knitting an image and the first time using multiple strands of different colour yarn... and it just might be the last. hahaha. In all seriousness, I'm glad I did it. I proved to myself I COULD, and know I have that knowledge under my belt.

Since it was the first time I was attempting translating and knitting an image, I wasn't even going to try and adjust the size... The original size being intended for a man's sweater. So, it was HUGE, took [what seemed like] forever, and made for a VERY odd shape. In hind-sight [which of course is always crystal clear], I should have just added more stitches to the sides and just embraced a MASSIVE, but proportionate bag.

The other thing I will never, EVER do again is use a sewing machine to sew something that took me weeks to knit. I just can't stand the pressure! My machine [Betsy] decided to have a hissy fit THE.SECOND. I started sewing the lining to my knit piece. I froze. I cried. I CONQUERED!

(back, after sewing up side seams)

BUT! I finally finished it! It's not perfect, but all things considered.... *pats self on back*

(I swear the top edging isn't as wonky as it looks)

(I added some pocket-age)

There you have it! Whatcha' think then??"

Some things I didn't mention in my Craftster post:

I over-ironed the son-of-a-bitch. Bob, that is. I was trying to iron out the edges because they were of course curling under, as knitting does, but I over did it up by Bob's face and it came out all wonky. I kind of fixed it by sort of rubbing it back into shape with hot water.

The comments I got on the post were quite sweet - things like, "Wow you're brave;" "Kudos, I would never try anything like that;" [both of which in knitting terms I think mean "what in the hell made you think you could do THAT?!"] "looks great;" and my personal favourite "Epic." Haha.

And most important, let me reiterate : NEVER.AGAIN. Seriously, if anyone ever hears me say I'm going to start knitting something that has to be sewn, PUNCH ME. PUNCH ME HARD. I will never ever EVER again try to sew something with a sewing maching that took me DAYS to knit. It's nerve wracking. I almost died. Ok, so I'm exaggerating, but BETSY [my sewing machine] almost died!

I mailed off this bad boy on.... erm.... uh.... Tuesday? Crap, I can't remember. Anyway, he should have it by now. No word yet though. I swear to God.... if the mail loses it.... BEWARE.

The relief that came from the emergency room visit and associated meds did NOT last. I went to my regular doctor, came out with a new load of meds, and still no real relief. He gave me a referral to a specialist, and I'm anxious to call and make an appointment. Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it doesn't. Most of the time it's just an annoying ache. Other times it makes me want to cut my own head off. By the way, the day I went to visit my doctor, I developed a cold! So for about a week I was snotty, sneezy, heavily medicated, and just generally feeling shitty.

My doctor ordered me to get blood work. Did I mention that not only am I afraid of needles, but DEATHLY afraid of blood? It's a big deal, but, I am resolved to feel better, so I went. I had to fast from 9pm the night before until the time of my blood test, which I was aiming to be at about 10am. My body, as usual, had other plans. As it turns out, taking all of my meds and the usual ibuprofen and not having anything to eat for almost 12 hours does not work well, so at 7am-ish I woke up.... and threw up. I'm sure you all know what it feels like to throw up when you don't actually have any food in your stomach, so I won't go in to any more detail. So I threw on some clothes and off we went to the hospital for my blood test. You can imagine how awful I felt, from not only being physically ill, but also FREAKING OUT about the blood test. I was in and out much quicker than anticipated, but that doesn't mean it went well. It didn't go terribly, but I did get real ill and violently shaky. However, staying conscious is an achievement in my book, so all things considered it went ok. The nurse was amazing, also - she even got the needle in in ONE GO! Normally it takes them three of four tries! Unfortunately, afterward I was still extremely nauseas. I couldn't fathom the idea of eating anything and not even toast could help me through. I ended up finally falling asleep on the couch, and when I woke up a couple hours later I felt much better.

Needless to say, it has been a REALLY ROUGH couple of weeks. That said, somehow I did manage to get the Bob bag FINISHED and sent off AND finished two items for the Warcraft swap! I'll post about the Bob bag later.... I PROMISE this will get back to being a craft blog as soon as I get back to feeling like a crafty human being and less like a trampled pin cushion :(